Today is Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti Before Ramayana was written, Maharishi Valmiki saw something which disturbed him deeply. He was near the Tamasa river with his disciple Bharadvaja when a hunter killed one of two Krauncha birds. The female bird cried for her companion and Maharishi Valmiki was so disturbed that he cursed the hunter. His words came out in the form of a shloka. Later, when he returned to his ashram, Bhagwan Brahma appeared before him. Now see what the Ramayana says. तद्गतेनैव मनसा वाल्मीकिर्ध्यानमास्थितः Even with Brahma sitting before him, the Maharishi was still thinking about that bird Brahma then smiled and told him that the shloka had come through His will. He asked Maharishi Valmiki to compose the story of Shri Rama. Just think of this for a moment. Bhagwan Brahma himself was sitting before the Rishi, yet he could not forget the suffering of that little bird. I find this one of the most moving parts of how the Ramayana came to be written. His shoka became a shloka. Something painful entered the heart of a Rishi & did not remain only as pain. It became the Ramayana. If possible, read Bala Kanda, Sarga 2 today. Pranam to Adi Kavi Maharishi Valmiki 🙏 Jai Shri Ram 🚩